


Hope and Dread

by PhoenixFlame



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 02:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFlame/pseuds/PhoenixFlame
Summary: The story of how Mycroft and Greg met and became friends.This fic is unfinished, and it's unlikely that it ever will be.





	Hope and Dread

**Author's Note:**

> I found a handwritten version of this in an old notebook of mine. I'm probably not going to finish it, as I'm not really in the Sherlock fandom these days, but I was reasonably happy with it, and I didn't want to completly forget about it. And you never know, I might get back in to it one day?

Mycroft would be lying if he were to say he hadn’t seen this coming from a long way off. He’d been both hoping for it and dreading it at the same time since he’d first met Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade. Admittedly at the start there had been significantly less dread because the chances of their relationship getting to this stage seemed slim at best, and after all, what’s the point in dreading something that will never come to pass.

Their first meeting was brief to say the least. Sherlock had wandered into DI Lestrade’s crime scene, where, upon witnessing the general incompetence of the police and forensics team gathered there, he had volunteered his services to identify a murderer and was promptly arrested for his troubles. At least that’s the story that Sherlock had told him, and while Mycroft was sure that was how it had appeared to Sherlock at the time, he rather suspected that the objective truth ran quite a bit closer to the version DI Lestrade had recounted when Mycroft had arrived to bail Sherlock out.

According to the DI, Sherlock had stumbled into the crime scene, violently resisted attempts to remove him from the area, and then subsequently resisted arrest, all the while yelling “helpful hints” to the forensics techs, insisting that the key to finding the culprit was in the bloody handprint left on the pavement, and maintaining that if they didn’t catch him quickly the killer would come after Sherlock himself next as punishment for failing to solve so simple a riddle. Mycroft had been trying to work out how to suggest that, while Sherlock’s paranoia about the killer targeting him next was indeed caused by the no doubt alarming quantities of cocaine in his system, DI Lestrade might benefit from consideration of the remaining deductions, when the DI broke into a delightful grin and informed Mycroft that his favourite part of the whole incident was the look on Sherlock’s face when he was told that they had already identified and apprehended the culprit. Mycroft had been unable to supress a smile as he imagined how Sherlock must have looked when he realised the Police might not actually be completely incompetent.

Mycroft was denied any further opportunity to make the DI smile again, as Sherlock was brought out from the holding cells. A few well-placed calls before he had arrived at Scotland Yard had ensured that all charges against Sherlock had been dropped, and Mycroft was only there to hopefully escort Sherlock from the holding cells at the NSY to the best rehabilitation facility available at short notice.

As soon as Mycroft saw Sherlock’s face, he realised that the only way to ensure that those earlier phone calls had not been wasted, was to get him out of there as soon as possible, before Sherlock had the chance to convince them that maybe it would be worth it to see him charged after all. And so with a quick, “Thank you for your assistance, and apologies for my younger brother, and the inconvenience he caused,” and just a moment to savour the slight smirk that DI Lestrade had flashed in response, Mycroft swiftly guided Sherlock out of New Scotland Yard and into the waiting car, where Sherlock’s sulking gave Mycroft ample opportunity to replay those smiles on the DI’s face, and to begin hoping for that impossible future where a man like DI Lestrade would spare a second thought for someone as utterly unappealing as himself. 

And with the hope came the dread. The realisation that even if the impossible were to happen, they would still need to get through the conversation that would, invariably drive anyone away. Mycroft made up his mind then and there to forget all about the attractive DI and focus his attention on trying to get Sherlock clean, and keep him that way. 

For a while it almost worked. Forgetting about DI Lestrade that is, not keeping Sherlock clean. Amazingly that seemed to continue working perfectly, however Sherlock’s newest hobby was what made it impossible for Mycroft to forget about the DI. Sherlock had rather latched on to the man, and had taken to showing up at his crime scenes all over the city and “helping” him to identify killers. Thankfully Sherlock rarely actually entered the crime scenes themselves, or did anything that could lead to him being arrested most of the time. He seemed to prefer to simply talk to DI Lestrade, and explain what he had been able to deduce from the evidence available to him from the other side of the police tape, and to request access either to more of the evidence, or alternatively to the crime scene itself to enable him to better determine the identity of the killer.

Through all of this DI Lestrade had been wonderfully patient with Sherlock, actually listening to his deductions, and thanking him when he pointed them in the correct direction, all the while steadfastly refusing to grant him any further access, and carrying through on his promise to arrest Sherlock anytime he overstepped the mark. It was these very arrests that made it so difficult for Mycroft to forget about the DI.

About once a month or so Sherlock would go too far, and DI Lestrade would be forced to bring him in, which in turn meant that Mycroft was forced to put everything on hold and head down to NSY to collect him. Every time he would have a short chat to the DI while waiting for Sherlock to be released, and gradually over time their topics of conversation shifted from what Sherlock had done this time, on to families, and then onto various topics of small talk including but not limited to, the weather, what music they each liked, the hobbies they indulged in, how their football teams were faring, the guilty pleasures they indulged in, and their favourite foods. It was during a discussion of the last that the DI revealed a love of modern Japanese cuisine that he rarely had the opportunity to indulge. Mycroft, having recently heard of a supposedly amazing new modern Japanese restaurant decided then to throw caution to the wind and asked the DI if he would be interested in a meal there as a form of recompense for having to deal with Sherlock all the time.

It was at that first dinner that Mycroft was firmly instructed that the full title was just fine while the DI was working, but when he was off duty he preferred Greg, or if that was too difficult for Mycroft to remember then Lestrade would do, but definitely not DI. Over the next few months the dinners between the two of them became more and more regular, eventually leading to a standing arrangement for a dinner on the first Friday of each month, visiting a different restaurant each month, local homicides and international crises permitting. 

By the time that Sherlock had fully entrenched himself, and his position of Consulting Detective, Mycroft and Greg were firm friends, and those months when they were forced to miss their dinners were significantly more unpleasant then they might otherwise have been.

It wasn’t until Sherlock noticed the link however that Mycroft was willing to admit, even to himself that he was, perhaps, a little infatuated with the DI.


End file.
